Shana Burg’s “Laugh With the Moon” is an enchanting story about love, loss, family and friends.

Clare Silver, 13, finds herself in a remote part of Malawi, Africa, with her father (who works for a Doctors Without Borders sort of group), both of them still grieving the death of Clare’s mother. (Is Disney paying attention?)

Resentful of being dragged along, by fits and starts Clare slowly comes around, thanks to the patient friendship of a Malawi orphan named Memory. (Author Shana Burg‘s sense of African names is dead on, with many characters sporting names that, in English, translate as adjectives.)

What saves “Laugh With the Moon” from being another white-kid-transformed-by-simple-natives story is the honesty of the writing, the fully-realized characters, and Burg’s keen ear for dialogue and dialect. Burg spent time in Malawi, and it shows. So, yeah, while Clare does undergo the requisite transformation, as do many privileged people who are smart enough to keep their eyes open when they visit parts of the world more wealthy in community than material things, her transition feels organic.

“Laugh With the Moon” is a book that coaxes more smiles than tears, despite the grave burdens shouldered by its characters. It’s affectionate and lovely.

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